Structural Characteristics/Parking
One building that stands out when walking down Woodruff is the Mendoza House. The brick color does not match the color used in all of the other north campus buildings. This causes a break in the cohesiveness of the design of most of the North campus buildings. Most of them look fairly similar in color and design but since the Mendoza house is older, it looks different from all of the newer buildings surrounding it. It serves as a break between the College of Business and it is the start of North campus housing. Walking further along Woodruff, there does not seem to be enough parking for the number of students living in the dorms, workers, people working on campus, etc. A parking garage of some sort may solve this issue. The closest garage is on College Avenue right across from Curl Market. This garage is one of three around North campus. Surface parking is the main issue rather than garage parking.
Setbacks
The setbacks of the buildings are not all equal while walking along Woodruff. This creates a sense of dysfunction and unconnectedness. By not having equal setbacks, it seems as if buildings are just placed in random array. Some buildings on Woodruff have a front green space while others just have a sidewalk. There is no way to feasibly fix this issue though because the buildings are already there and it would be too expensive to move them in order to add a setback. The building height also varies comparing each building on Woodruff, there is no real consistency in height. This lack of consistency also adds to the sense of unconnectedness. A uniform height would clean up the skyline of the area.
Building Use
There is a church on the corner of High and Woodruff which seems to be out of place. The brick color does not match and the architectural style is completely different from that of the dorms. This space seems like it could be used for more North campus housing instead. The church breaks up the cohesiveness developing as one moves along Woodruff towards the North campus dorms. The church does not appear to have a strong affiliation with Ohio State even though it is right on campus.
Structural Characteristics/Parking/Setbacks
The dorms along High Street all have a uniform look and feel. The buildings are evenly spaced and the setbacks all include a small portion of green space. This makes this part of campus feel clean and organized and it starts to make the area feel connected. Across the street, the buildings are various sizes and have different architectural features. There is not a common feature that the buildings share so it does not flow as nicely or look as clean as the North campus dorms. There is more room for parking but it is still an issue. This again could be solved by adding some type of surface lot or a parking garage in the area.
Building Spacing
On Norwich there are more two-story, family style homes. Most of the homes in this area are rentals and are split up into multiple units. They are all fairly simple and basic homes. All of them have the same outside aesthetic. There is ample street and lot parking on Norwich for residents living in these homes. The houses are very close together with little to no space between some units. The setbacks are fairly consistent throughout this neighborhood. In between some of the houses there are entire apartment units, which give the area a more commercial feel. It does not feel like a cohesive community due to this. Most people live here for a short period of time so there is not a strong sense of a community feel in this neighborhood.
Structural Characteristics/Parking/Building Use
As you get closer to campus, it begins to feel a little more cohesive with the look and feel. Jesse Owens North Recreation Center on north campus seems out of place. It is on the corner of Neil and High. This is further away than the other gyms on campus for students. The location is not entirely convenient for everyone since it lies near the outer edge of campus. It can be difficult to find for some people who don’t know the area well because the buildings around it block it from being seen from a distance. The design and color of the building does not fit with the flow of North campus as a whole. It is missing the brick element, which connects all of the other buildings. Fisher Hall seems to tower over the other buildings on North campus in the College of Business. There is more parking here in the parking garage across the street, which is a main lot for faculty and staff working on North campus. North campus seems to have a cohesive feel. The other buildings around campus have a common feel inside, but as a whole they seem to be out of place. The architectural elements differ drastically in some cases, making things seem hectic and not planned out very well.
Sam DeLong, Casey Klusman, Ari Roby